EGU Blogs

Division blogs

SSP
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology

Mining the Carboniferous in the Ruhr area (Germany)

December 11, 2018
Mining the Carboniferous in the Ruhr area (Germany)

During the upper Carboniferous period (Namurian, Westfalian and Stephanian)  large areas of central western Germany were covered by coastal swamp forests dominated by Lepidodendron und Sigillaria. Periodic marine and fluvial transgressions caused the swamps being regularly buried by siliciclastic material, resulting in up to 5500 m thick successions of alternating organic-rich and clastic-rich sed ...[Read More]

CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – Ice-Spy: the launch of ICESat-2

December 7, 2018
Image of the Week – Ice-Spy: the launch of ICESat-2

On September 15th, 2018, at 18:02 local time, NASA launched its newest satellite – the second generation Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat-2). ICESat-2 only contains one instrument – a space laser that fires 10,000 pulses per second to Earth to measure elevation. Its primary purpose is for monitoring the ever changing cryosphere, so naturally there are plenty of ice enthusiasts ...[Read More]

TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

Meeting Plate Tectonics – Mathilde Cannat

December 7, 2018
Meeting Plate Tectonics – Mathilde Cannat

These blogposts present interviews with outstanding scientists that bloomed and shape the theory that revolutionised Earth Sciences — Plate Tectonics. Get to know them, learn from their experience, discover the pieces of advice they share and find out where the newest challenges lie! Meeting Mathilde Cannat Mathilde Cannat started her career at the early age of 26 when she obtained her Doctorate i ...[Read More]

CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Ice-hot news: The cryosphere and the 1.5°C target

December 5, 2018
Ice-hot news: The cryosphere and the 1.5°C target

Every year again, the Conference of Parties takes place, an event where politicians and activists from all over the world meet for two weeks to discuss further actions concerning climate change. In the context the COP24, which started this Monday in Katowice (Poland), let’s revisit an important decision made three years ago, during the COP21 in Paris, and its consequences for the state of the cryo ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

Get conference ready!

December 5, 2018
Get conference ready!

It’s almost time for the AGU fall meeting 2018! Are you ready? Have you prepared your schedule and set up all your important business meetings? Here are some final tips to nail your presentation and/or poster! Nailing your presentation • The art of the 15-minute talk: how to design the best 15-minute talk • Presentation skills – 1. Voice: how to get the most out of your presentation vo ...[Read More]

NH
Natural Hazards

Combining geomorphology, geomorphometry and natural hazards research: the way forward

December 4, 2018
Combining geomorphology, geomorphometry and natural hazards research: the way forward

Today I have the honour to introduce a friend and a brilliant scientist that recently won the 2019 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists of the EGU, Dr Giulia Sofia. Dr Sofia is currently Assistant Research Professor at the University of Connecticut (USA) in the Hydrometeorology and Hydrologic Remote Sensing group. She received a B.S. and M.S. in Forestry Science, and PhD (201 ...[Read More]

CL
Climate: Past, Present & Future

God does not play DICE – but Bill Nordhaus does! What can models tell us about the economics of climate change?

December 3, 2018

Climate change has been described as “the biggest market failure in human history”[1]. Although fuel is costly, emitting the by-product CO2 is for free; yet it causes damages to society. In other words, those who benefit, by using the atmosphere as waste dump, do not pay the full costs, i.e. the adverse effects climate change has on societies on a global scale. Can this market failure be cured? Sh ...[Read More]

CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – (Un)boxing the melting under the ice shelves

November 30, 2018
Image of the Week – (Un)boxing the melting under the ice shelves

The Antarctic ice sheet stores a large amount of water that could potentially add to sea level rise in a warming world (see this post and this post). It is currently losing ice, and the ice loss has been accelerating in the past decades. All this is linked to the melting of ice – not at the surface but at the base, underneath the so-called ice shelves which form the continuation of the Antarctic i ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

Presentation skills – 2. Speech

November 28, 2018
Presentation skills – 2. Speech

Presenting: some people love it, some people hate it. I firmly place myself in the first category and apparently, this presentation joy translates itself into being a good – and confident – speaker. Over the years, quite a few people have asked me for my secrets to presenting (which – immediate full disclosure – I do not have) and this is the result: a running series on the ...[Read More]

TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

Minds over Methods: What controls the shape of oceanic ridges?

November 27, 2018
Minds over Methods: What controls the shape of oceanic ridges?

In this edition of Minds over Methods, Aurore Sibrant, postdoc at Bretagne Occidentale University (France) explains how she studies the shape of oceanic ridges, and which parameters are thought to control this shape. By using laboratory experiments combined with observations from nature, she gives new insights into how spreading rates and lithosphere thickness influence the development of oceanic ...[Read More]